Letter combinations sh and kh are pronounced same as in English.
PRONUNCIATION
Neo, like Spanish and Italian, is pronounced exactly as it is spelt. No letter is mute.
Every letter has one sound, always the same.
Therefore, if a text is dictated correctly, writing is simple and spelling mistakes are practically excluded.
VARIABILITY OF WORDS
An ending s is added to nouns and pronouns in the plural. Verbs are conjugated according to the list on page 17. All other words are invariable.
STRESS falls on :
the last but one syllable of words ending with a vowel : libro book; tAblo table; pAtro father; mAtro mother; Almo soul; korAgo courage ; korAga courageous ; kemlo chemistry ; serlo series ; geograflo geography; geogrAfa geographical; distrlbo distribution; distrlbi to distribute; unAlma unanimous; unalmEso unanimity.
the last syllable of words ending with a consonant: amOr love ; amlk friend ; gardEn garden ; kanOn gun ; aveutUr adventure ; experimEnt experiment; mi amAr I love ; vu venAr you come ; zi vidOr they will see; vu venUr you would come.
The s of the plural does not displace the stress : llbros, tAblos, mAtros, serlos, amlkos, gardEnos, aventUros, experimEntos.
Letter у, being a consonant, cannot carry the stress : fOlyo leaf, dOlyo mourning, dOlyi to mourn; sErye seriously (serle means “in series”).
Before another vowel, i always gets stress, even in words that already have another stress : folio madness; m lop I о shortsightedness ; blologlo biology.
Stress never falls on the vowel u in the combination guo : llnguo language; amblgue ambiguously, or after a and e : pIAudi to applause ; kAuzo cause ; klAuzo clause ; Auto motorcar; nEutra neutral; rEumo rheumatism; rEuma rheumatic.
Compound words have two or more stresses, each component keeping its own stress : dOrfoskOI village school; Artlstor Art-History; IsnOn nineteen; nOnek nOnisnOn 999 ; vlrvEstdepartmEnt men’s-clothing- department.
THE ARTICLE
Definite article lo : the. Lo patro the father; lo patros the fathers ; lo matro the mother; lo matros the mothers ; lo garden, lo gardenos the garden, the gardens.
Ending о may be dropped before a word beginning with a vowel : l’arbo, l’arbos the tree, the trees; I’ideo, -s the idea, -s ; Рок, -os the eye, -s; Puk, -os the corner, -s; l’aventur, -os the adventure, -s ; l’olda vir, -os the old man, men.
In the plural, when preceding an invariable word, ending s may be added : los Nelson exir, los Johnson entrir the Nelsons went out, the Johnsons came in; los sencesa kur d’et infan me lasir this boy’s ceaseless “whys” tired me.
Ending s may also be added to give extra weight and when suggested by a want of clearness or euphony.
There are no graphical (written) accents nor any diacritical signs in Neo.
To mark the stress of foreign or universal words ending with a stress-carrying vowel, an accent is put on this vowel : pash&, pap&. This does not contradict the principle of accents’ absence in Neo, as it only concerns “foreign” words.
This accent may optionally be replaced by an apostrophe : pasha’, papa’.
Indefinite article un : a, an. Un vir e un fem a man and a woman; no un sol boy not a single boy.
Both definite and indefinite article may optionally be omitted, as is normal practice in Russian, in Latin and in several oriental languages.
THE ADJECTIVE
The Adjective ends with the letter a : grana large; leta small; forta strong; debla weak; iza easy; dufa difficult; komoda convenient; decenta decent; blonda blond; bruna brown.
When the adjective is used as a noun, ending s must be added in the pluraclass="underline" lo granas the large ones; lo letas the small ones; lo blondas the blond ones; lo brunas the brown ones; I’albas the white ones; lo skuras the dark ones.Ending a may OPTIONALLY be dropped when the adjective PRECEDES the noun to which it relates (NEVER WHEN IT FOLLOWS IT), so long as this elision does not create confusion, and so long as after the elision the adjective has no more than ONE syllable or at most TWO : et dom (eta dom) this house
yen dom (yena dom) that house
bel floros (bela floros) beautiful flowers
un nus felet (un nusa felet) a pretty little girl
mi ricir va bon brif (va bona I received your good letter brif)
un gentil dam venir (un gentila a nice lady came dam)
let domos e klezos grana (leta small houses and big churches domos)
il un gentil boy (gentila boy) he is a nice boy.
The ADVERB deriving from an adjective ends with the letter e : lorta strong, forte strongly ; en erg a energetic, energe energetically, ekonoma, -ome economic, -ically.
THE NOUN
The Noun ends with о (plural os): frato, fratos brother, brothers; soro, soros sister, sisters ; gardeno, gardenos garden, gardens ; tablo, tablos table, tables ; libro, libros book, books.
Ending о is frequently dropped IN THE SINGULAR, so long as the pronunciation remains very easy : frat, sor, garden. One may not say tabl, libr, because the pronunciation would be difficult. THE PLURAL ENDING os IS NEVER DROPPED.
Ending-in is used to design feminine nouns : doktor, doktorin doctor, lady doctor; roy, royin (usual contraction : roin) king, queen; leon, -in lion, lioness; vender, venderin seller (m, ); amik, amikin friend (m, ); librer, librerin bookseller (m, ); biblioteker, bibliotekerin (usual contraction : bibliotekin) librarian (m, ).
PRONOUNS
SUBJECT (1) OBJECT (1)
IMPORTANT. After a preposition, the pronoun has always the “subject” form : venar tu kon nos ? are you coming with us ? mi exar kon il I go out with him ;
For the indirect object pronoun, you may also say : a mi, a tu, a il and so on (to me, to you, to him); in the third person, you may also replace le by lu (fem. luy) and ze by zu (fem. zuy), (only for the indirect object);
When, in the same sentence, you have two object pronouns, the one direct and the other one indirect, the indirect one is placed first: mi te it vendar I sell it to you; nos ve le prezentor we shall introduce him to you; nos le (lu) ve prezentor we shall introduce you to him.
Examples : ma dom, ma domos my house, my houses; possessive pronouns end with s in the plural : lo ma mine; lo mas mine (plural); There exists also a “rich” possessive, more expressive : mia, tua, ila, ela, ita, soa, nosa, vua, zia, zela : nosas plu shiraqam vuas ours are more expensive than yours.
This “rich” possessive usually follows the name to which it refers and adds emphasis : Patrio mia! My fatherland (mine) I; Patro nosa! Our Father (ours)!
Several Neists suggest using tu when addressing a single person and vu when addressing two persons or more, as was normal practice in Latin.
SOME OTHER PRONOUNS :
lo what : lo ki me plar what appeals to me; lo ke mi var i what I want to have
ко (object ke) : what : ко oxar ? what happens ? ; ke var tu ? what do you want ?; ke par mi fl po vu ? what can I do for you ?
ki (object ken) who (whom) : Ki venar ? Who is coming ? ; ken vidar vu ? whom do you see ?; possessive kia : kfa et lap ? whose is this pencil ?
ki (object ke) relative pronoun : who (whom). Lo vir ki venar the man who is coming; lo vir ke tu vidar the man (whom) you see.
Animals can be “he, she or it”, as in English. When, in the same sentence, or in the same narrative, you have two pronouns, the one relating to a human being, and the other one to an animal, it is suggested, in order to avoid confusion, to use il (or el) for the human being, and it for the animal.
POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES ma-, ta-, la-, el(a)-, sa-, na-, va-, za-, zel(a)- are frequently used as PREFIXES :
maopine in my opnion; savole of his (own) free will; vadomye in your house; zaopine in their opinion; elopine in her opinion; zamode after their manner; il agir sakonvinke he acted according to his conviction; maelte on my part, from me, on my behalf; navola decidos our free-will decisions.